Notes for July 29, 2008

It looks like I'll need to pick tomatoes and cukes every other day now. I picked cukes, cherry tomatoes and a couple of large tomatoes yesterday.

Notes for July 27, 2008

I was going to water this afternoon... but mother nature did nicely...1.5" in about an hour. Very Nice!

Notes for July 26, 2008

Had a busy day today. Picked cucumbers and a few cherry tomatoes and green beans. Trimmed tomato plants and tied the new growth to the stakes. Picked the last of the onions and now I have three trays of onions on the picnic table. Pushed the mulch back so that its now up against the Lima beans. Finished mulching the yellow beans. Then I cut the grass. The grass wasn't tall but it was thick in spots so it took me longer. I stopped about every half hour for a drink break. I plan on watering tomorrow if we don't get any rain tonight.

Notes for July 25, 2008

Finally got something. I emptied 0.6" from the rain gauge yesterday.

Notes for July 24, 2008

We didn't get any rain during the day yesterday but we did get some thunder. There were some really heavy storms that passed by to our west (watching the radar they traveled from southwest to northeast, passing to our west) but we didn't get any of that. I had to pick up my daughter and a friend of hers last night and went through some really heavy stuff only to find that it had hardly rained at our home.

But this morning its raining. Nothing heavy but a nice gentle rain. I didn't empty the rain gauge but curiosity got the best of me. I walked up a took a glance and it looks like we have near a half an inch so far. So the grass and the gardens are enjoying it. It looks like the rain will be stopping some time in mid morning but I had hoped for more to alleviate some stress on my well. All signs of a half an inch in my yard will be gone in two dry days, but I will take it. One less day to water.
I picked some cucumbers last night and ate a couple of cherry tomatoes.

Notes for July 23, 2008

I emptied 0.2" from the rain gauge this morning. They are forecasting quite a bit more for this afternoon and evening ("we'll see" said the blind man).

Notes for July 21, 2008

I hated to do it but it was the only time open in my schedule. I had to water during mid day. I had about an hour and a half after I got home from church and it was the only I had yesterday. I watered everything in my veggie garden. I did not water the flower beds. We haven't had rain for a week now and last night I saw a line of thunderstorms on the weather radar come across the state of Pennsylvania. This morning everything was as dry as it was when I went to bed. No rain. Again the line must have died at the Delaware River or shortly thereafter. I swear this is the only drawback living in the coastal plain in the summer time. The ocean has quite a moderating effect on our weather.

Anyway, I did pick about 8 cucumbers and three cherry tomatoes yesterday. I also picked about 2/3 of my onions. They are in "flats" used to hold trays of plants (like when you buy a flat of annuals). I am going to let them sit there for a week and then put them in the shed to continue drying for two more weeks.

Notes for July 18, 2008

Last night I picked green beans from the second row. I almost hated to pick them, they were kind of limp. Everything needed water. I really should pick beans the day after I water. But unfortunately, we all have to deal with the cards we're dealt with and last night was the first chance I had this week to tend to the garden since the weekend.

After picking beans, I watered. I watered everything. When I say everything I mean everything in the veggie garden (tomatoes, cukes, peppers, cosmos, marigolds, beans, sunflowers, beans and onions) and then I water all the flower beds in the backyard (watering mainly the perennials I planted this year and not so much the iris or tiger lillies that are already established).

My lima beans have sprouted and looks like I got good germination. The yellow beans I planted two weeks ago are ready to be finished mulching. The cosmos are looking healthy (nice thick stem). Most of my tomato plants are averaging 6 feet tall (remember they only get about 3-4 hours of direct sunlight, so its like they are looking for sun, which gives me later season tomatoes but I am usually picking until frost in November), my sunflowers are over 6 feet tall. I will be picking some of the onions this weekend (about 97 percent of the stems have fallen over and some of them have turned brown, and that's when I know that they are ready to be picked). I plan on leaving them on the picnic table for at least a few days and then putting them in the shed for a couple of weeks. Anyone else do onions?

Surprisingly I did not find any hornworms on my tomatoes last night. I have two cherry tomatoes getting ripe so it won't be long. I'm pretty sure that both of those tomatoes probably won't make it out of the garden. I love to eat a few when I am outside. When I am picking, I usually eat about a half a dozen (at least, yum).

Notes for July 14, 2008

I just emptied 0.3" from the rain gauge. Looks like I will watering later this week (nothing forecasted until next weekend).

I removed another hornworm from the tomatoes too.

Notes for July 12, 2008

I watered everything again last night and in between watering I trimmed and tied my tomatoes.

I pulled off two hornworms last night and two this morning.

I picked two cucumbers last night.

I pulled out the first row of green beans and picked off all the beans this morning and then planted a row of lima beans.

The wax beans I planted last week sprouted during the week and are about 4" inches tall today. I am not very pleased with the germaination (only about 70 percent, which is low in the warm weather), so after the wax beans I have are used up, I may just stick to green beans.

Notes for July 9, 2008

This past Saturday I was able to get caught up in the yard.

I had a pair of yellow daisies growing in my veggie patch (the seeds must have been in the mulch) and so I transplanted them first.

I planted the double bloom orange tiger lillies after I split them into nice handful sized plantings. I planted eight bunches overall.

I turned the next area for planting beans using the spade (I didn't want to get the tiller out of the shed).

I had previously trimmed the tomato suckers on Thursday but I still trimmed and tied the tomato plants.

Then I planted a row of wax beans in the area I just turned.

Then I mulched. I mulched the row of cosmos I have planted along the inside fence of my veggie garden and then mulched the row of wax bean seeds (just stopping short of the row, which I will mulch just after the beans are about six inches tall). I then continued and finished mulching the remainder of my flower beds.

On Sunday, all I did was water everything and pull renegade weeds.

On Monday night I picked green beans. I picked about two large Ziploc bags full. I let them dry out on the kitchen counter before I put them in the fridge since we had rain earlier in the day. The wife made green bean casserole with the first picking, and it was good. I will get one more picking from that first row of beans (I will do that by pulling out the plants and picking off the beans). Then I will probably plant a row of Lima Beans in its location.

Notes for July 8, 2008

I finally got some measurable rain yesterday. When I got home from work, I emptied 0.7" from the rain gauge.

Friday on the fourth of July my family and I went to our family picnic which on the 4th is always at this particular Aunt & Uncle's house. I have been married for 23 years so I have been going to this picnic for lets say 25 years and I have gotten to know their neighbors (at least by name). This year as we are pulling in the driveway, the neighbor on that side is cleaning out a garden of its daylillies. At first glance, they appeared to be the common orange variety. At second glance, I noticed they were the double bloom orange variety (after one of the cousin's husband went over there and began helping the neighbor and took several clumps for himself). So I went over there and got a few too (since the neighbor was just throwing them out and I don't have any double bloom orange daylillies). Would any of you done the same?

Notes for July 7, 2008

Had a very nice weekend and started to get caught up on the work at home. But in all the showers around us, I managed to get only 0.1" of rain Friday night. So I ended up having to water the gardens on Sunday. I did get to the gardens on Saturday and I will give the details later.

Notes for July 3, 2008

Here is a picture of a Daylily in bloom right now.

I watered everything last night and did some weeding.

My onions will be ready to pick in a few weeks, the stems have started to fall over.

I hope to plant another row of string beans and mulch this weekend. The second row of string beans is starting to flower.

My sunflowers are about 4-5 ft tall now.

The Hosta I bought a couple of weeks and split, the smaller split has died completely. Haven't a clue why

Notes for July 2, 2008

Here is some Joe Pye Weed. The woman I get a bunch of my perennials from gave it to me for free when I asked about it. When she dug it up it came out like a brick, an 8-inch thick brick and a foot and a half square. Had to use a hatchet and cut it into four squares. Planted two of them next to the mailbox. Noticed this morning that some bug has been eating it.

Notes for July 1, 2008

Here is some Primrose that was in bloom a few weeks ago.

In addition to the 65 hours a week I have been working, I forgot to include the 12 hours of travel time (an hour each way to the office). Needlessly to say, things are piling up at home (inside and outside).